Toy musical instrument



J C. BANCROFT TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT July 5,

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J. C. BANCROFT TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed July 17, 1946 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented July 5, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTJoseph C. Bancroft, New York, N. Y.

Application July 17, 1946, Serial No. 684,217

3 Claims.

This invention relates to musical instruments, and more particularly tothose capable of use as toys, and by means of which simple tunes ormusical compositions can be readily played by children or others withoutmusical experience or training.

An object of the invention is to provide in an instrument of thischaracter, a relatively inexpensive construction of sturdy nature tothereby enable the instrument to withstand the use and abuse to which anarticle of this character is likely to be subjected.

Another object of the invention is to provide means by which the notesor tones of a plurality of simple songs or musical compositions will beplaced at the disposal of the user and which may be selectivelypositioned in respect to the keys of the instrument so that the keys tobe depressed and their sequence of operation will be effectively andaccurately indicated to the player and the playing of any one of anumber of tunes can be accomplished by the most inexperienced user ofthe instrument.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in an instrument ofthis character, a novel construction of playing keys, 2. simple andefficient arrangement of hammers and the reeds against which the sameare impinged; a novel mounting and disposition of a paper web bearing aplurality of successively-arranged tunes, and an artistic and sturdycasing or housing within which the operating parts of the instrument arecontained and by means of which a maximum of protection for the same isrendered possible.

More particularly, the device contemplates the provision of a housinghaving an end wall formed with a plurality of lengthy,horizontally-disposed, resiliently mounted bars constituting the keys ofthe instrument, said keys having free ends adapted to depress portionsof resiliently-mounted hammers, the latter having head portions forimpingement against a plurality of tuned reeds located above them; itfurther contemplates the provision of a pair of rollers mounted toreceive a paper web and hold the same stretched below the keys, said webbeing imprinted with the notes of a plurality of tunes, the notes beingarranged for proper disposition below the bars to thereby designate theproper bars to be depressed, as Well as the sequence of operation, andit further contemplates the provision of a sturdy, artistic housing orcasing for the parts of the instrument to afford a most completeprotection for the same.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein an 2 illustrative embodiment ofthe invention is disclosed,

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a musical instrument constructed inaccordance with the invention, with the top cover plate of the housingremoved to disclose construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the instrument, looking at the right end ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view looking at the left end of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the complete instrument;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View through the sounding board, thehammers and adjacent parts, and

Fig. '7 is a sectional view on the line 1--| of Fig. 6, looking in thedirection of the arrows.

With reference to the drawings, l indicates generally the housing orcasing of the instrument. In the form shown, the housing is preferably,but not. necessarily, in the shape of a trough-like sheet-metal stampinghaving its 1ongitudinal side edges rolled or curled upwardlysubstantially as indicated at 2 and 3. The opposite ends of the housingthus formed, are beaded, as indicated respectively at 4 and 5. The endbeading 5 receives and securely retains an end wall or closure plate 3|provided with a plurality of apertures 32 through which the musicalsounds can emanate when the instrument is being played.

The heading 4, located at the opposite end of the housing I, receives anend wall or closure plate 6, the same being provided with a plurality oflengthy bars I which are formed integrally with the end wall or plate 6,and are bent as at 9 to lie horizontally and substantially at rightangles .to the plate or the end wall or plate 6. The bars 1, and eightin number are shown, to correspond to the notes of the musica1 scale,constitute the keys of the instrument, and by manual depression of thesame, selected tunes may be played, in the manner to be described.

At their free ends, the bars I are downwardly bent as shown at 8, thelower end of each of these down-bent portions overlying a hammer, theconstruction of which is clearly shown in Figs. 6 and 8. It will betherein noted that the eight hammers, corresponding in number to thekeys or bars 1, are all formed from one piece of spring metal. Thehammer group thus provided, includes the base'portion l0 having eightspring fingers, each of which is first bent upwardly as at ll, and thenbent substantially horizontally,

and then doubled over upon itself, as at l2 to provide a free-endportion M to which a striking head [5, of wood or other suitablemateria1 is attached. The normal position of each hammer is shown infull lines in Fig. 6 wherein it will be seen that the end portionindicated at i2 is slightly elevated adjacent to the lower end of thedownturned part 8 of the bar I, and the opposite end of the fingerconstituting the hammer body, is in lowered position. A strip of felt l6or other padding is situated beneath the heads I to dead-- en the impactof the same when they descend after having struck the reeds l9 locatedabove them. Similarly, a strip of felt I! is located be low the endportion l2 to deaden the sound of this portion of each hammer as thesame is brought downwardly under the pressure of its key or bar I. Afiller piece of thick, compressible cardboard, as indicated at l8 may beemployed in the housing below the hammers.

The sound box of the instrument is composed of a frame which includes apair of end supports 23 mounted in the housing along the longitudinalsides of the same, and said supports are connected by a top or uppercross-piece 22, the latter member extending transversely of the housingwithin the same, and having a bar 20 of metal, attached to its underside by means of screws 22. Said bar 20 is suitably apertured to receivea plurality of musical reeds H) which are, in the form shown, rods orwires disposed horizontally and properly tuned to sound the notes of thescale when they are struck by the heads l5 of the hammers locateddirectly beneath them. This arrangement is such that by the depressionof any of the bars or keys I, a corresponding hammer will have its headl5 swung upwardly to strike the reed is located above it and sound themusical note thereof. ,The resiliency of the bars I is such that the'same tend to normally lie horizontally or in raised position, althoughthe bars are aided in rising by the tendency of the end portion [2 ofthe hammers to spring upwardly to the position of Figs. 2 and 6 after anote has been struck and the pressure of the finger of the player on thebar or key I has been released.

Located near the free ends of the bars I is a transverse wall orpartition member 24 which is suitably secured fixedly in place withinthe housing. Said partition member 24 has its upper edge provided with aplurality of notches 25, these notches constituting guides for the barsI and serving to hold the same from lateral displacement, thusmaintaining each of the bars properly positioned above its hammer.Rotatively mounted in the end wall 6 and in the partition 24 is a roller26, said roller being substantially enclosed within the rolled or curlededge portion 2 of the housing. A similar roller 21 is rotatively mountedin the partition 24 and in the end wall 6, said roller extending alongthe opposite side edge of the housing and being accommodated within thecurled or rolled portion 3 of the housing.

At 30 is shown a lengthy web of sheet material, such as paper or cloth,the same constituting a song-sheet or note-bearing member, said webhaving its opposite ends attached to the two rollers 26 and 21. The webcan thus be caused to travel either toward or away from the operator ofthe instrument by the manual rotation of one or the other of the rollers26 and 21. Roller 26 is provided with a knob 28 on its projecting endbeyond the end wall 6 of the casing, and a similar knob is provided att9 on the end of the roller 21, so that by manual rotation of either ofthe knobs 28, 29, the web 30 can be caused to travel in the requireddirection to thus place any selected portion of the web 30 at thedesired position in back of or below the bars 'I.

The web 30 is imprinted or otherwise marked with musical notes, a few ofwhich are shown at 3Ia, the notes in each group being arranged for thetones of any relatively simple song or musical composition, nurseryrhyme, or the like. A number of such songs may be imprinted upon the web30 and when it is desired to play any selected tune, one or the other ofthe knobs 2B, 29 is rotated to register the notes of the selected tunewith the bars 1, such as shown in Fig. 1. When this has been done, theplaying of the tune merely requires depression of the bars '1 locatedover the notes and in the sequence indicated on the web. When one tunehas been played, it is a simple matter to turn to the next tune bymerely shifting the web 30 to bring the next group of notes beneath thebars or keys 1. Thus, a single lengthy web can contain, for example, acomplete group of childhood songs, nursery rhymes or the like, and achild can be entertained for a considerable period of time by thesuccessive playing of the tunes provided on the web.

For the protection of the hammers and other operative portions of theinstrument, a cover plate may be provided, an example of such aprotective plate being shown at 34. This lends rigidity and strength tothe housing and it serves to protect the reeds, hammers and other partsof the instrument likely to be damaged if left in an exposed position.The cover plate attaches to the edges of the curled parts 2 and 3 and itmay be provided with louvered apertures as indicated at 35 to allow thesound to emanate when the instrument is being played.

It will also be found desirable to support the stretch of the web 30between the rollers 26 and Zl, and for this purpose a box-like fillercan be positioned below the bars 1, behind the web and between therollers. Such a filler is shown in dotted lines at 33 in Fig. 2.

The instrument is so shaped and arranged that it presents a relativelyflat, compact and easilycarried device; the parts are housed andprotected by the form of housing or casing used, and the device willwithstand a great deal of use and abuse at the hands of children. Itserves to teach a child to readily play simple tunes, and the ease withwhich the tunes can be played will serve to generate an interest inmusic and possibly encourage the child to proceed to the study andenjoyment of music on a more serious scale.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of the invention, it isobvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broadenough to cover all structures coming within th scope of the annexedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. In a musical instrument, a housing provided with an end piece, aplurality of bars formed integrally with said end piece and directedhorizontally from the upper edge of the same, each of said bars having afree end, each of said free ends having a downwardly-directed part, aplurality of hammers mounted for rocking movement, each hammer having apart underlying the downwardly-directed part of one of the bars, thehammers each having an end provided with a striking head, a supportlocated above said striking heads and carrying sounding reeds which arestruck by the striking heads when the hammers are rocked by manualdepression of the bars.

2. In a musical instrument, a partition member having a plurality oflaterally-bent, horizontallydisposed, lengthy integral spring barsconstituting keys, each of said bars having a movable downwardly-bentfree end, a plurality of soundproducing elements, hammers interposedbetween said sound-producing elements and the free ends of the barswhereby manual depression of the bars Will cause the hammers to strikethe soundproducing elements, a second partition member spaced from thefirst and having guide notches in which the bars are operative, and a,web of note-bearing sheet material extending and behind the bars.

3. In a musical instrument, a housing consisting of a sheet of metalcurled at its opposite sides to form it into trough shape, a verticalend wall secured to the housing and closing one end of the same, saidend wall being provided with a plurality of integral, lengthy barsextending substantially at right angles to the end Wall, a partition inthe housing remote from the end wall,

said partition having a notched upper edge con- .25

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 373,069 Hill Nov. 15, 1887612,672 Pierce Oct. 18, 1898 710,653 Anderson Oct. 7, 1902 2,265,237Klein Dec. 9, 1941 2,279,144 Lohr Apr. 7, 1942

